Machine and process for making bags



May 5, 1936. G. w. POPPE MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGS Filed Sept.50, 1932 6 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 6150265 M POPPE ATTORNELS May 5,1936. G. w. POPPE MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGS 6 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Sept. 50, 1932 INVENTOR GEO/e65 MP0PP ATTORN EYS NV NW NQ h y1936- G. w. POPPE MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGS Filed Sept. 30,1932 s Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR GL ORGE h/PoPPE WWW ATTORNEYS y 1936- 's.w. POPPE 2,039,980

MACHINE AND PRopEs's FOR MAKING BAGS Filed se i. 30,1932 6 Sheets-Sheet4 llllllll INVENTOR Gap/rs: M FbPPE B'Y it ATTORNEYS May 5,1936. e wPOPPE I 2,039,980

MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGS J4 Jfir/l.

INVENTOR GEORGE 14 POP/ 5 WHY ATTORN EXS.

May 5, 1936. G. w. POPPE MACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGSe'sheets-she et 6 Filed Sept. 30, 1952 INVENTOR 7 GEORGE 14 Pop/=5in-onus;

Patented May 5, 1936 This invention relates to a STATES PATENT OFFICEMACHINE AND PROCESS FOR MAKING BAGS George W. Poppe, Brooklyn, N. Y.,assignor to Equitable Paper Bag 00., 1110., Brooklyn, N. Y., acorporation of New York Applicationv September 30, 1932, Serial No.635,533

I 4 Claims.

process and machine for making bags and more particularly to the makingof bags from relatively thin material. The improvements, however, arenot limited to the process and machine for handling thin material butpossess advantages when making bags of ordinary paper.

An object of the invention is the better control and handling of the bagmaterial both in the web and in the tube. A further object is theproduction of a more attractive and serviceable bag at minimum cost.

A feature of the invention resides in the provision of positive feedingmeans engaging the web prior to folding the same into a bag tube.

Another feature relates means whereby a very ace the feed rollers may behad to the provision of urate adjustment of and maintained, and

to insure uniform pressure of the rollers against the bag tube.

A further feature relates to the provision of a central bearing for theupper pinch bar shaft whereby the pinch bar carried thereby will per-.

form its function in a more withstanding the vibrations reliable mannernotto which the shaft is subjected during the severance of the bag tube.Still another feature relates to the provision of means whereby thepinch bar shafts and striker bar may be more accurately and convenientlyadjusted in proper timed relation.

Further features relate to the construction and mode of operation of thepaste applying disc, the

control of the auxiliary web feeding roller, rollers acting on the tubetogether with other features and advantages which will become apparentand. will be better understood from the following description and claimswhen taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a bag machine embodying myimprovements;

F'igure 2 is a plan and part sectional view on the line 2-2, Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a side elevation viewed from the bottom of Figure 2;

line 5--5, Figure 4;

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional line 6-6, Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a sectional vi Figure 1; I

Figure 8 is a sectional vi Figure 1;

view on the ow on the line 1-1,

ew on the line 88.

Figure 9 is a section on the line 9$, Figure I;

Figure 10 is a section on the line Ill-i0, Figure 7;

Figure 11 is a section on the line li--i i, Figure 8; I 5

Figure 12 is a section on the line 82-42, Figure 8;

Figure 13 is part sectional and part plan view of a portion of the rearof the machine substantially along the line I3-fl 5, Figure 1, showingthe paste 10 applying mechanism,

Figure 14 is a detail of the shaft carrying the paste applying disc;

Figure 14a. is a detail of a modified form of paste applying disc; 15Figure 1421 is a. section on the line Hb-ilb, Figure 14a;

Figure 15 is a section on the line l5|5, Figure 13;

Figure 16 is a diagrammatic view showing the 20 development of a baFigure 1'7 is a similar view of a different type of ba Figure 18 is adetail of a finished bag of a type developed in Figure 16;

as shown in Figure 17. 0

Figure 21 indicates the step of severing the top walls of the bag shownin Figure 18; and

Figure 22 is a view of the bag of Figure 18 after severance of the topedges thereof.

Referring to the drawings, and more particu larly to Figures 1 'and 2there is the usual supporting framework 2, the side members of which.carry the various shafts for driving the usual mechanism of a bagmachine, together with brackets for supporting the various auxiliarystructures with which the present invention is more particularlyconcerned.

Referring to Figure 2, the machine is driven from a motor 4 whose shaftis provided with a pulley 5 about which passes a belt 5 to a pulley .45on the shaft 8, which carries the lower pinch roller and from whichshaft most of the other parts receive their drive. On this shaft is alsocarried a sprocket wheel 9, Figure '7, over which passes a sprocketchain I0 connected to a sprocket II on shaft l2, Figures 2 and 3. Atension roller 13 is provided to keep the sprocket chain sum! cientlytaut. The shaft I2 carries a gear that meshes with a similar gear on astud shaft 14.

The latter shaft carries a sprocket wheel for engagement with a sprocketchain i5 by which motion is transmitted to shaft I6, the latter shaftcarrying dies for making incisions in the paper web in a manner to belater described.

The paper or other material which is to form the bags is fed as a web 18from a roll I 9 supported on a shaft 20 in the lower portion of the rearframework. The web passes over guide rollers 22, 23, and 24 and aroundanother roller 26 which reverses its direction of movement, the latterroller being carried by shaft 21.

The mechanism so far described is thatwhlch is found in an ordinary bagmachine and is of well-known construction. In said machines, however,the .roller 26 serves merely to reverse the direction of the web but isnot itself positively driven.

In the present disclosure means are provided for positively driving theroller 26 thereby relieving somewhat the strain on the paper or otherbag forming material and permitting thinner and more delicate materialto be used to advantage.

For positively driving the roller 26 a pulley 28 is secured to the lowerend of shaft l2 as viewed in Figure 2, the shaft 21 being provided witha similar pulley 29, the pulleys being connected by a belt 30.

When first setting up the machine the paper is'threaded into the machineby hand and it is necessary to give some motion to the parts in orderthat the web may be properly started. With the roller 26 positivelydriven this operation would be very dimcult unless means were. providedto ease up on the belt 30 during the setting-up operation. I havetherefore provided variable tensionmechanism for this belt constructedas follows A stud shaft 3| projects from the side frame plate 2 asindicated in Figure 6, said shaft carrying an arm 32 supporting a pulley33, Figure 3. Between the arm 32 and the side frame plate 2 isinterposed a collar 34 and friction washers 86 are provided on eitherside of the arm and a spring 36 is interposed between a nut 31 and theoutside washer. This gives sufilcient tension to the arm 32-to hold itin any position to which it is positively moved. Normally the arm ispositioned as shown in Figure 3 and the roller 33 bears on the belt 30with such pressure as will enable it to drive the roller'26. When,however, the web is heing initially threaded through the machine theroller 33 is moved away from the under surface of the belt therebypermitting suilicient slack to allow the roller 26 to turn freely.

The mechanism just described for controlling.

the drive of the paper web is not specifically claimed in the presentapplication but is claimed in my divisional application Serial No.676,871, filed June 21, 1933.

The paper web after passing over the roller 26 is delivered to mechanismwhich folds it into the bag tube in the usual manner, such mechanismincluding a former platev 36, the right end of which, as indicated inFigure 1, is bent upwardly at about 45. The former is. supported from" abridge 40 carried by arms 4| projecting forwardly and upwardly. The webpasses under the former as shown in Figure 2 and providing set screws tohold them in the proper adjustment. These plates 43 support rollerswhich aid in giving the necessary control of the folded web and will b"referred to later in greater detail.

The folded tube passes to the feed rollers indicated at 44, the upperpair of which are mounted on shaft 45 and the lower pair on shaft 46,these shafts extending into and being supported by the side frames ofthe machine. Preferably the upper rollers are provided with facings 44a.of rubber, leather orother material such as will provide the desiredsurface friction. The lower rollers are of steel without facings. Fordriving the feed rollers there is provided a gear 48 on the shaft 8,Figures 2 and 3, which gear meshes with an idler 50 which in turn mesheswith a gear 5| on the lower shaft 46. Near its other endbut within theframe 2 the shaft 46 carries gear 52 meshing with gear 53 on the uppershaft 45. The 4 gears 52 and 53 are of the same size'so that the feedrollersrotate in a 1 to 1 ratio.

After the web has been formed into a bag tube by being folded over theformer and passes between the feed rollers 44 it is severed into abaglength by mechanism including the so-called pinch bars and thestriker bar. The pinch bars are also driven from the shaft 8 which hassecured .to it a pinion 55 meshing with a pinion 56 on the upper shaft54 which carries the pinch bar 41,

the pinions 55 and 56 also driving in a 1 to 1 ratio.

' cylinder 64 carrying the tucker blade which blade is not shown butwhich is of the'usual and well known construction.

The bag tubeis severed by striker bar mechanism, which mechanism in thepresent instance has been somewhat modified in order to make it easierto accurately adjust-the striker bars. "This mechanism is constructed asfollows: carried by the side frames 2 is a shaft 66 supporting a hub 61having formed integral therewith two sprocket members 66. Supportedbystandards Ill, one on each side of the machine, is a shaft 12 whichcarries sprockets corresponding to the sprockets 68 and about which passtwo chains 12, one on each side of the machine, between which thestriker bars 14 and 15 extend.

The hub 61 has a slot milled into it near its central portion asindicated by the shading in Figure 7, which slot extends through the hubto the central bore and a bolt II passes through holes near the centeras shown more particularly InFigure 10. By tightening up on the bolt thehubis'clamped tightly to the shaft 66. The shaft 66 is driven from theshaft 6 through gear ,51, idler l8 and pinion 19 secured to the shaft66. Since the sprockets 66 are formed as a unit with the hub and theteeth subsequently milled, such teeth are in perfect alignment.- Whenany adjustment'of the sprocket chains is to be made the bolt ,II isloosened and the hub moved to the desired degree after which the bolt isagain tightened. From this con tructi'on it is apparent that bothsprockets 68 are a usted in unison by a single adjustment of the hubonthe shaft. The

said sprockets having collars and set screws 'Il which hold thesprockets in proper position on the shaft. After these sprockets havebeen once aligned they' need not be changed when adjustment of the hub61 is made. i

The importance of the adjustment of the hub 61 in respect of the shaft86 will be appreciated when it is recalled that this adjustmentdetermines the relative timing of the pinch bar 4'! and the striker barand since in the present invention the slack in the bag tube is createdby the striker bar with the pinch bar acting just at the moment when theslack is at a maximum, it is important that the adjustment between thesetwo members be extremely accurate and it is also important that it maybe made with convenience and certainty. The construction of the hub 61with the sprockets 68 integral therewith makes this result easy ofattainment.

In my application Serial No. 619,173 filed June 25, 1932 I have shownand described a bag machine in which the slack, which it is necessary toform in the bag tube before it is severed, is produced by the action ofthe striker bar and not by the action of the pinch bars as has beenheretofore the custom. In the present constructionthe same timing of theparts is utilized and which timing is indicated by the position of thestriker bar it in respect of the pinch bar M (Fig. l) The pinch bar hasnot yet engaged the bag tube but the striker bar is just about to engagethe bag tube. The slack in the tube is created entirely by the strikerbar, the pinch bar engaging the bag tube just at the moment when the bagis severed by the knife edges 59 and 16 which sever respectively thelower and upper bag walls.

After a bag length has been severed from the tube and the bag bottomformed the bag passes on to delivering mechanism which may be of theusual and well-known construction and which is merely indicated more orless diagrammatically in the drawings and need not be specificallydescribed.

It has been stated that the object of the invention was the bettercontrol and handling of the bag material both in the webv and after theweb has been folded into a bag tube. It is very important when very thinmaterial is being handled, especially material such as cellophane, thatthe pressure of the various rollers on the web and tube shall be veryaccurately controlled and that the variations in pressure for differentthicknesses of bag material shall be accurately compensated for. It isalso important that the pressure shall remain constant during thevarious stages of bag formation. To this end I have provided a number ofrefinements whereby the main object of the invention is accomplished.

Reference has already been made to the positive drive of the roller 25.This relieves the web and bag tube of the strain which would necessarilybe imposed upon it if the entire feeding of the paper were done throughthe feed rollers 44.

To aid in folding the material more accurately as it passes under theformer and to prevent any slack which might otherwise occur I provide asoft rubber roller 88 shown in section in Figure 1 and in dottedlines'in Figure 2. Said roller is supported by standards 82 on oppositesides of the machine frame and carries a bearing 88 which supports theroller yieldingly in engagement with the bag material, such yieldingsupport being effected by means of one or more springs 8 Mention hasbeen made also of rollers engaging the upper portion of the bag tube andthese will now be described more specifically. Just 'after the fold hasbeen made it is engaged by a pair of rollers 88 which preferably are ofrubber. These rollers are supported by arms 81 pivotably connected tobrackets 88 vertically adjustable in bracket 89, which latter bracketsare themselves adjustable along the plates 43.

In addition to the rollers 86 I further provide rollers 90 mounted inpivoted arms 92 supported in brackets 93 upstanding from the plates 43.To varyihe amount of pressure exerted by the rollers 98 against the bagtube I provide weights 84 adjustable along the arms 92.

It has been stated that one of the features of the invention providesfor very accurate adjustment of the feed rollers. Not only do I provideaccurate adjustment but I also provide means whereby any rocking of thefeed roller shafts is prevented. Referring to Figure 8, the upper feedroller shaft 45 is supported in eccentric bearings 96, which bearingsare carried by bearing boxes 98 against which the springs 9% press withsumcient force to support the weight of the shaft and the parts carriedthereby. ,Set screws tilt carried by the side frames bear against thebearing boxes 98 and enable the shaft 45 to be so adjusted that theupper and lower feed rollers are so spaced that they exert the properpressure for the particular type of bag for which the machine is set tomake. By reason of the springs 99 engaging the lower side of the bearingboxes the shaft 65 may yield in a downward direction and this yieldingis provided to permit accurate adjustment. It is desirable, however,that the shaft be not permitted to rock and for guarding against this Iprovide what I call bearers mounted on the shafts 35 and 66. Thesebearers I62 consist of short collars secured to the respective shaftsoutcurate cylindrical surfaces which in the properly adjusted positionof the shafts do not contact. The adjustment is made by putting a thinpiece of paper between the upper and lower bearers and adjusting theshaft 45 by means of the set screws I00 so that the paper is just barelycaught by the bearers. Any tendency of the shaft 45 to rock thereforewill be resisted by the bearers, the movement to effect contact betweenthe same being merely that of the thickness of the piece of paper usedin making the adjustment.

As a further means to prevent any tendency of the shafts 45 and 46 toseparate I provide a central support for the shaft 45 yieldingly andadjustably holding said shaft against any upward thrusts to which itmight be subjected. For this purpose the side frames are extendedvertically as at EM and support a horizontal plate I05. This plate isdrilled near the centre and a bolt I06 serves to firmly support a lowerarm I03 and an upper arm :01, a spacing collar I08 separating the twoarms. A plunger I09 passes loosely through an opening in arm I83 andengages a depression in a collar H0 free on the shaft 45. In other wordsthis collar is held from rotation by the plunger I09 while the shaft 45freely rotates within the collar. A set screw l lithreaded into the arml0! loosely engages a shouldered sleeve H3. Also loosely engaging theplunger ")9 is a second shouldered sleeve IM similar to the sleeve H3but faced in the opposite direction as indicated in Figure 11. A spring5 bears against these shoulders and causes a yielding force to beexerted on the plunger! which force.isshowninFigures4and5,thecuttingedge of the die being indicated by thereference character I62. The shank portion of the die is formed asindicated and is engaged by cylindrical plungers I63, Figure 5, whichplungers are urged against the die by springs I seated in recesses inthe die hub I65. The die shank is also provided with elongated slots I61through which pins Ifla are passed to limit the outward movement of thedie against the action of the springs lil.

Referring to Figure 16 which shows a development of a bag using the dieabove described, it will be noted that the cuts are made a bag lengthapart centrally of the bag tube and are non-rectilinear in shape and byreference to the lower portion of Figure 16 it will be noted also thatwhen the bag is severed by the knife edges the incision made by the dieforms a portion of the top of one bag wall. This follows from the factthat the bag wall is severed along a line which meets the end of thecentral non-rectilinear cuts. At the bottom of Figure 16 is shown a'bagtube section prior to the folding of the bottom thereof, which fold ismade along the line 1-2: and when so folded the finished ba presents theappearance shown in Figure 18. After the bag has been formed as hereshown the top serrations are cut off by any suitable means such as anordinary paper cutter shown in Figure 21, therebypresentmgabaghavingallofitstopedgessmoothand without serrations as shownin Figure 22. By reason of the manner in which the bag is formed from abag tube the lower flap fits into the notch in the next preceding bagwall.

Figure 1'7 shows the development of a ing the die as described above formaking incisions centrally of the bag web and also the additional diesIii, Figure 20, which form the cuts I. These dies Iii are similar inconstruction and mode of operation to the dies I shown in my Patent No.1,798,168, granted March 31, 1931. By the process and machine theredescribed the bag tube is severed in such a way that the transverse cutsmeet the ends of the slits or cuts Iii. ltwillalsobenotedbyreferencetol'lgure 1'! that the ends of the central cut are in line with,

the lower ends of the cuts l6. so'that when the bag tube is severed ithas the appearance-shown atthebottomof Figure 17. Whenthebagsectlon isfolded along the line y-v it has the apce-shown in Figure 19.

The bag of Figure 19 is subsequently subjected to the trimming operationwhereby the serrated edges atthetopofthebagarecutoflbyan ordinarypapercutter such as shown inFlgure 21.

so WhileIhaveshownanddescribedaprefei-red bagus-.

central cuts therein.

form of my invention it is obvious that variations may be resorted toand some of the improvements may be used without others.

What I claim as new and patentable is:-

1. In a bag machine, the combinationwith a support for a roll ofmaterial, of cutters for forming cuts inthe material spaced inwardlyfrom the edges thereof, said cuts being located angularly in respect ofthe general direction of the web, means for making non-rectilinear cutsin the web between said pairs of cuts, a former, means for drawing theweb over the 'former to. form a tube with said non-rectilinear cutscentral of one wall of the tube and transverse cutters to cut both wallsof the tubes from opposite ends of the pairs of cuts, the cut in onewall of the bag also meeting the outer ends of said nonrectilinear cuts.

2. The process of forming a bag which consists of making cuts in the webin oppositely ar ranged pairs spaced from the edges of the web,

3. The process of forming a bag which consists in making cuts in a webof paper in oppositely arranged pairs spaced from the edges of said web,making non-rectilinear cuts in said web between the aforesaid cuts,folding the web into a bag tube so that the non-rectilinear cuts arecentral of one wall thereof, severing one wall of the tube along a linewhich meets the upper ends of a pair otcuts and severing the other wallalong a line which meets the lower ends of said pair of cuts and theouter ends of the central cuts.

4. In the making of bags those steps which consist in makingnon-rectilinear cuts in a web, folding the web into a bag tube so thatsaid cuts are central of one wall thereof; severing the tube the edge ofthe wall of the tube which has been severed from side to side projectsbeyond the edge of the wall having the central cuts therein, andsubsequently severing both walls of a bag length along a line within theedge of the wall having

